Elastic Security Detection Rules

Service Control Spawned via Script Interpreter

Last updated 5 months ago on 2025-03-20
Created 6 years ago on 2020-02-18

About

Identifies Service Control (sc.exe) spawning from script interpreter processes to create, modify, or start services. This can potentially indicate an attempt to elevate privileges or maintain persistence.
Tags
Domain: EndpointOS: WindowsUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: Privilege EscalationTactic: Defense EvasionTactic: ExecutionData Source: Elastic EndgameData Source: Elastic DefendData Source: Windows Security Event LogsData Source: Microsoft Defender for EndpointData Source: CrowdstrikeLanguage: eql
Severity
low
Risk Score
21
MITRE ATT&CK™

Privilege Escalation (TA0004)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Create or Modify System Process (T1543)(opens in a new tab or window)

Execution (TA0002)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Windows Management Instrumentation (T1047)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Command and Scripting Interpreter (T1059)(opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(opens in a new tab or window)

↳ System Binary Proxy Execution (T1218)(opens in a new tab or window)

License
Elastic License v2(opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Rule Type
Event Correlation Rule
Integration Pack
Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Index Patterns
endgame-*logs-crowdstrike.fdr*logs-endpoint.events.process-*logs-m365_defender.event-*logs-system.security*logs-windows.forwarded*winlogbeat-*
Related Integrations

endpoint(opens in a new tab or window)

system(opens in a new tab or window)

windows(opens in a new tab or window)

m365_defender(opens in a new tab or window)

crowdstrike(opens in a new tab or window)

Query
/* This rule is not compatible with Sysmon due to user.id issues */

process where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type == "start" and
  (process.name : "sc.exe" or ?process.pe.original_file_name == "sc.exe") and
  process.parent.name : ("cmd.exe", "wscript.exe", "rundll32.exe", "regsvr32.exe",
                         "wmic.exe", "mshta.exe","powershell.exe", "pwsh.exe") and
  process.args:("config", "create", "start", "delete", "stop", "pause") and
  /* exclude SYSTEM SID - look for service creations by non-SYSTEM user */
  not user.id : "S-1-5-18"

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect Service Control Spawned via Script Interpreter in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(opens in a new tab or window).